I Drove A Chevy Volt And It Accelerates Faster Than My Prius

This morning I talked with Andrew Farah, chief engineer for the
Chevy Volt, and we talked a lot about the reporting in the press
that the Chevy Volt
is actually some kind of hybrid car. Turns out it could be seen
as some kind of “super hybrid” because the gas engine does kick
in at some points and can have its energy transmitted to the
road.

In practice, though, it doesn’t do that in a way that any hybrid
owner would recognize (I own a 2010 Toyota Prius, which is a
hybrid car. That car uses the gas engine almost constantly to
drive the wheels. You can hear and feel the gas engine kick in on
almost all accelerations. On the Volt, when I drove it back at
the SXSW conference, the gas engine never kicked in.

Anyway, we cover a few of the interesting points of the
drivetrain and battery technology that’s underneath this
interesting car.

Why do I care?

Because I think, as an American, that one of the most important
issues of our time is to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. To
do that we need all sorts of innovations to reduce our use of
gasoline.

Plus, I’m now seeking out conversations every day about
world-changing technology and this definitely applies (if you
have a world-changing technology you’d like to talk with me
about, send me e-mail at scobleizer@gmail.com or give me a call,
like Andrew did, at +1-425-205-1921. Using CinchCast on my iPhone I can
record our phone call and put it up within minutes for everyone
to listen to.

Will the Chevy Volt win in the marketplace? I don’t know.

Is it fun to drive? Absolutely. It accelerates faster than my
Prius does.

Does it use less gas? Absolutely. For the first 40 miles you
don’t use much gas at all. Since most of the time that’s more
than the miles I drive every day that would be perfect for me
(you plug it in at night to charge it up).

Anyway, Americans love their cars and I love talking car tech
with smart people who build these things. Hope you enjoy and hope
you consider one of these new electric (or super hybrids) ones
for your next car purchase. Here you can watch my test drive of
the Chevy
Volt (I will try to do another test drive of the final car
soon):